Temp gauge rebuild, still Speedy Cables?

[Luckyone]

Someone posted on here years ago that Speedy Cables maybe Speedy by name but certainly weren’t Speedy by nature.

I just rang them to see, seems it’s still the same, they have a 10 to 12 week turn round time at the moment.

Luckily I have two identical gauges so l can send one off & keep the one that reads over by 20deg, so it’s not the end of the world.

I was just wondering if anyone had found a company that can rebuild the temp gauge quicker than them?

[Byker28i]

Are the guages anything special of just Smiths ones (or insert name here) with a different dial?

[plasticman]

I have seen a couple of cerberas where the temperature capillary has been cable tied to the engine on the way to the Dash . You could check to make sure it takes the coolest route and definatley not attached to anything moving !
As the capillary is intact you can pull the gauge apart youself and bend the mechanism to match the temperature you want. It takes a while to ease the gauge surround offbut after that it is relatively easy using a boiling pan of water to set 100 C .

[Luckyone]

plasticman said:

I have seen a couple of cerberas where the temperature capillary has been cable tied to the engine on the way to the Dash . You could check to make sure it takes the coolest route and definatley not attached to anything moving !
As the capillary is intact you can pull the gauge apart youself and bend the mechanism to match the temperature you want. It takes a while to ease the gauge surround offbut after that it is relatively easy using a boiling pan of water to set 100 C .

I was testing it using hot water before properly installing the pipe work. The ECU temp agreed with the my thermometer, dash gauge was way off. It was massively over to start with then settled down to read 20 over as the temp started to slowly drop in the pipe.

I just looked at it again days later & the gauge has settled down reading to read 70deg with the sensor removed from the coolant pipe. I can’t feel my hands it’s so cold in the garage, I think it’s probably had it.

I was wondering if it came apart easily, not sure it’s worth trying though given its erratic behaviour?

I think Speedy said £120 to rebuild it (plus the long wait). Motoclan have new ones for about £180 with the TVRCC discount. However I didn’t see a mint green option that I need.

[spitfire4v8]

If speedy cabels say 10-12 weeks then expect it to take 10-12 months. utter shambles.

[Luckyone]

spitfire4v8 said:

If speedy cabels say 10-12 weeks then expect it to take 10-12 months. utter shambles.

Ah ok, thanks Think I’ll forget that option then!

plasticman said:

As the capillary is intact you can pull the gauge apart youself and bend the mechanism to match the temperature you want. It takes a while to ease the gauge surround offbut after that it is relatively easy using a boiling pan of water to set 100 C .

Thanks for that suggestion, thinking a bit more I will give that a go, I just tried it in some hot water & it seemed to just read the set amount over. Hopefully it’s just stopping at that amount over the normal stop point too.

I had to use heat to get the sensor out of the old pipe (to put it into the new stainless one). I stopped to look at the gauge halfway through & it was not too surprisingly reading off the end of the scale. Probably over strained the mechanism, (edit) hopefully it will bend back then….

Edited by Luckyone on Tuesday 27th February 18:57

[DuncanM]

Luckyone said:

Thanks for that suggestion, thinking a bit more I will give that a go, I just tried it in some hot water & it seemed to just read the set amount over. Hopefully it’s just stopping at that amount over the normal stop point too.

I had to use heat to get the sensor out of the old pipe (to put it into the new stainless one). I stopped to look at the gauge halfway through & it was not too surprisingly reading off the end of the scale. Probably over strained the mechanism, however it will bend back then….

The needle isn't fixed, can be moved to match the temperature.

If you do decide to replace, I bought one of these, new, and readily available, then swapped over the bezel and face from my old one.

The capillary length is shorter, but still fits (4.2)


https://www.bmcparts.co.uk/products/mgb-dual-oil-w...

[notaping]

You might find something here:

https://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/s/instruments-g...

Swap the face and needle. They have an electric water gauge which might be more acurate.

[Luckyone]

DuncanM said:

The needle isn't fixed, can be moved to match the temperature.

If you do decide to replace, I bought one of these, new, and readily available, then swapped over the bezel and face from my old one.

The capillary length is shorter, but still fits (4.2)


https://www.bmcparts.co.uk/products/mgb-dual-oil-w...

Excellent backup plan, I’ll pull the face off then & see what happens. (No difference between 4.2 & 4.5 for the length of capillary tube.)

It maybe a little while before I report back, I’m kind of almost there with rebuilding the whole car. Unfortunately I’m almost there with just about every part of it so still have quite a lot to do really!

notaping said:

You might find something here:

https://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/s/instruments-g...

Swap the face and needle. They have an electric water gauge which might be more acurate.

Thanks for that but if I can’t fix mine I’ll go with DuncanM’s link as he’s used that one.

The original one on the 4.5 was only a couple of degrees off the ECU temp after I did the body off on that & routed the capillary tube away from heat sources. That came out of the original pipe no bother at all 14 years ago, different story nowadays!

[Byker28i]

Didn't someone do an electrical gauge rather than a capilary one? Might be another option

[gruffalo]

Byker28i said:

Didn't someone do an electrical gauge rather than a capilary one? Might be another option

SPA di a dual temp and oil pressure digital gauge that is pretty much a direct replacement. You do need to change the bottom manifold pipe that the sender unit screws into other wise you need a few adapters and the sender ends up removed from the water flow and under reading by 10 celcius. ACT sell the pipe work needed and I have to say it is so nice actually knowing what my engine temperature really is. The SPA gauges are accurate to around 0.1C.

[robsco]

Byker28i said:

Are the guages anything special of just Smiths ones (or insert name here) with a different dial?

I believe they are Caerbont gauges, if that helps.

[notaping]

Smiths Telemetrix with custom dial and needle

https://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/s/instruments-g...

[WIL35]

gruffalo said:

SPA di a dual temp and oil pressure digital gauge that is pretty much a direct replacement. You do need to change the bottom manifold pipe that the sender unit screws into other wise you need a few adapters and the sender ends up removed from the water flow and under reading by 10 celcius. ACT sell the pipe work needed and I have to say it is so nice actually knowing what my engine temperature really is. The SPA gauges are accurate to around 0.1C.

I have the SPA gauge with the revised ACT coolant pipe and agree, it's nicer to see the actual temperature that aligns with the ECU temperature. In my Cerb a previous owner fitted a couple of LEDs in the ashtray panel that light up when each of the cooling fans kick in. Not necessary I know, but it's good to see the temp go up, fan kicks in, temps goes down

[DuncanM]

notaping said:

Smiths Telemetrix with custom dial and needle

https://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/s/instruments-g...

I like that a lot, would have to swap them all out though, expensive.